Travel Ireland: 40 places to visit on the Wild Atlantic Way

This travel guide is full of information and travel inspiration for first-time visitors to the Wild Atlantic Way in Ireland. You are going to see and hear about lakes studded with islands, the ocean, small islands, abandoned islands, remote sandy beaches, seabirds, goats, dinosaurs, lush forests, green hills, stark cliffs, and monastic ruins, beautiful castle ruins, and lonely cottages: The Wild Atlantic Way sure is spellbindingly beautiful.

And you are going to hear stories about Viking raids, Queens, Kings, brave revolutionaries, sturdy fishermen, and curious adventurers. You are sure going to find your ideal place.

Travel Iceland – First-time Visitors Guide

This Iceland guide is full of information and travel inspiration for first-time visitors to Iceland. Leaving Iceland is like a return to the real world, it is this beautiful. Iceland is blue icebergs, untouched, wide, and wild open space, long distances, lonely roads, snowy mountain tops, majestic glaciers, glacier lagoons and lakes, black endless beaches, boiling water and steam, the rough North Atlantic Ocean, mystic rock formations, lava fields, wildflowers and moss, cliff edges, birdlife and seals, sturdy and cute Icelandic horses, reindeers, and sheep. You find Iceland on the boundary between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. Only about 366,450 people call Iceland home and you can add millions of tourists who love Iceland to that number.

There is sunshine, gale force winds, light rain, heavy rain, the howl of sideways rain, and snowstorms, and as a result, magnificently, constantly changing light. One can experience all that often all in one single day. The road will take you to natural wonder after natural wonder. In Iceland, the splendour is as endless as the daylight in summer or the darkness in winter. The wonder never stops.

Travelling through the country one can well imagine that it is a struggle to survive in these harsh conditions. There have been over 200 volcanic eruptions ever since settlers arrived in Iceland. One would surely do everything to keep it this pristine. There are hardly any power poles, no large street signs, and outside of Reykjavik sort of no traffic lights that disturb magnificent views. The whole of Iceland looks otherworldly.

How to be a delightful tourist in Iceland?

Icelanders want to welcome people from all over the world. They are keen to share the beauty of their home country, and they admit that over-tourism is a problem also. This article provides an awesome overview and describes important things to desist from doing in Iceland in just a few lines. Everything you read is inspired by everything and everyone I saw and noticed on my road trip through Iceland. On my way, I spoke to different Icelanders about what I experienced. They all agreed they need tourists to come and visit Iceland, as tourism is great for the economy.

According to the Icelandic Tourist Board, because of the pandemic, the total number of foreign overnight visitors to Iceland was at only just under half a million in 2020. In 2019, before Covid-19, foreign visitors numbered around two million. The population of Iceland is about 350,000 people strong. Millions of visitors come and visit Iceland over the years. Existing facilities such as for example the road system or the health system aren't made for this large number of vehicles and people.

How to be a responsible and delightful tourist in Iceland?

Wherever you go in Iceland, one place is prettier than the next. Stunning places that look as if they are in the middle of nowhere are right next to main roads. The easier places are to reach, the more people go and visit them.

It took billions of years for our planet to become what it is today. Within our rather short time on earth, we humans have managed to imbalance our environment. We have so much power to change the world - in a negative and hurray, also in a positive sense. We can all start at every moment.

It is easy to be considerate, responsible and delightful. Just don’t be an asshole.

 

Travel the Netherlands – Ten places that are beyond beautiful

The Netherlands is polders, meadows, a long stretch of North Sea coast, lakes, canals, and tech innovation. Flower markets can be found in almost every town, and in spring you find colourful large tulip fields behind the Netherland’s North Sea dunes. Famous paintings by artists like Pieter Bruegel, Vincent Van Gogh, Hieronymus Bosch, Johannes Vermeer, and Rembrandt van Rijn transport you directly to the Netherlands.

The Netherlands is a special place and is widely popular with many. Visit off-season and when visiting hot spots go in the early morning or in the late afternoon and try avoiding the biggest crowds that way.

Here come ten places in the Netherlands that are just magnificent to visit, they are simply beyond beautiful. Of course, it all starts with the all-time favourite one.

Travel Spain – Magnificent places to visit in Lanzarote

In 1993, UNESCO declared Lanzarote a »World Biosphere Reserve«. Thousands and thousands of tourists visit the northeastern of the Canary Islands every year. They come for all-year-round warm weather and sunshine and for black, white, and golden sandy beaches. Lanzarote offers more than 300 days of sunshine per year. On average it rains only 16 days in Lanzarote, that is per year, not per month. There is more than magnificent beaches and superb weather.

The volcanic eruption on Lanzarote between 1730 and 1736 covered the island with a thick layer of lava and ash and changed the landscape forever. On Lanzarote, you can get lost in a through and through mystical scenery. The landscape formed by severe magma eruptions is rather inhospitable. Think of Lanzarote as starkly archaic and at the same time refreshingly eccentric. A visit to Lanzarote is highly recommended.

 Lanzarote - starkly archaic and refreshingly eccentric

One side of Lanzarote is mass tourism, and the other is tranquillity. I divided places to visit into two categories. One chunk is about places that everyone wants to visit (the popular highlights). The other chunk is about places that focus on spending time in the great outdoors.

 

Travel Austria - Pretty Places to Visit

Austria's beautiful landscapes that can be seen covering a relatively small number of kilometres make it ideal for a road trip. Austria is a small country in size with only about 8.9 million citizens. If you want to experience towering mountains, lush valleys or colourful towns, Austria has it all. You can easily turn this into a two to three week long road trip.

Make your way to the country in heart of Europe. Here are a few of Austria's best sights to see on a road trip across the country. Before you jump into a car, make sure you bring the right music. There is pretty much only one type of music you want to listen to on a road trip through Austria.

People in the times of the coronavirus crisis – Eyewitness Suzanne Benadie from Sense of Africa in South Africa

Being the not-so-secret ambassador of South Africa, I feel this natural curiosity for the country. I like to know what South Africans are up to. Suzanne Benadie who lives in Johannesburg has worked in tourism ever since leaving school in 1989. She started her career as a tourist guide. Over the years, her love of nature and conservation areas across Southern Africa grew even stronger. Today, together with travelling, the protection of wildlife and creating sustainability for locals is what she is most passionate about.

Suzanne is the Sales and Marketing Director of Sense of Africa South Africa, one of the leading destination management companies in Africa. A company strongly committed to local communities and the environment in all countries they operate. They help you with wildlife safaris, self-drive trips, cultural experiences, and group travel trips in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. To Suzanne, this is a dream of a job. Being in a position where she can share all there is to know about wildlife, the people, and the different cultures with guests from around the world.

A tourist and traveller at heart, spare time is spent on safari, exploring new areas, and learning about how best she can support responsible tourism. She loves gardening and spending time at home with good books and interesting documentaries. We are taking a trip to South Africa, and I am thrilled Suzanne Benadie tells me about South Africa in times of the Coronavirus crisis.